University of South Alabama president proposes extra pay for employees

View full sizeUniversity of South Alabama President Gordon Moulton plans to ask the board of trustees to give employees a one-time, 2 percent pay bump, just in time for Christmas. (Press-Register photo)

The university’s board of trustees will vote on President Gordon Moulton’s proposal to that effect during a meeting this morning. The board also will consider issuing a $25 million bond to build a new residence hall, buy hospital equipment and pay for other capital projects.

Moulton said he would like to reward his employees, who have been working hard in times of financial cuts. Enrollment has gone up the past couple of years, but the university is operating with fewer instructors now.

“The smart thing to do would be to not give them a raise,” Moulton told the board during a work session Thursday. “But the wise thing to do would be to give them a raise.”

If approved, employees of the academic division would get a one-time salary supplement that mirrors one awarded to USA hospital employees in September. They would get a minimum of $1,000 in the form of a check that would be written on Dec. 16. This would cost the university, which operates on about an $830 million budget, $2.5 million.

The university has about 5,400 employees, divided almost evenly among the academic and hospital divisions.

In June, trustees unanimously approved an 8.4 percent increase in tuition and fees for 2011-12. Students also are paying more for housing and meal plans.

University employees got a 2.5 percent raise in October. But that came as the state increased the amount of money that the employees had to contribute toward their retirement benefits.

USA is currently operating on a budget with a projected $3.6 million deficit. The salary supplement would increase that amount.

“It is prudent to reward the performance we are obviously getting from devoted employees,” said James Yance, the board’s chairman. “But at the same time, this doesn’t lock us into anything” as a permanent raise would.

“That’s a great proposal,” said Mobile Mayor Sam Jones, who serves on the board.

Meanwhile, the board will consider a plan to tear down the two-story Delta I residence hall, which offers apartment-style living, and replace it with a four-story dormitory. The new dorm would have two beds and a bathroom per room and would accommodate about 350 students.

That would increase the university’s on-campus housing capacity to 2,278, not counting the privately owned apartment complex, The Grove. The dorm would cost about $15 million and would pay for itself in housing fees.

USA Vice President for Student Affairs John Smith said that with new dining facilities, a recreation center, football, band and other programs recently added, the university is attracting more “traditional” college students who want to live on campus, at least for their freshman year.

In fact, he said, 92 percent of freshmen from Alabama counties outside Mobile and Baldwin choose to live on campus. Though the university this year opened Stokes Hall, a new residence hall, campus housing is currently at capacity.

Two hundred more freshmen are enrolled this year compared to last, and applications for next year are already up 20 percent more.

“Our freshman class this year would’ve been larger if we would’ve had more housing,” said J. David Stearns, associate vice president for enrollment. “That’s a sour note for parents. They want their students to live on campus.”